Vacation Bible School, a missional beginning

Based on the banners, signs and ads I see on my daily drive, it seems that every church these days has an offering of Vacation Bible School. An article in the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram gives a history of VBS. I recall reading about the beginnings of it (proud to say it has a Baptist origin) in a couple of sentences in my church history textbook, but the article today reminded me of how missional an idea it was as Eliza Hawes started it in a beer hall (would the anti-alchohol/Jesus was really drinking grape juice/"we must come out from among them" crowd in the SBC of today do such a thing?) back in 1898. The idea was to bring Jesus to the children(of immigrants) who would never attend her church on the other side of town. I don't know much about Eliza, but she obviously understood the need to take Jesus into her community, modeling an incarnational method much needed still today. Another article on the history of VBS in Christianity Today. Vacation Bible School Eliza Hawes missional